Here and There and Back Again
by skissors
Summary: Peri gets separated from the Doctor and ends up on a planet with a lot of sand and many strange characters.


1.

"Peri, I am entrusting you with this." The Doctor handed her the object.

"Can't do it yourself?" Peri asked.

The Doctor frowned at her and pouted. "If you feel i _that /i _ way about it, I suppose I can..." He caught Peri's grin, and humphed. "Just don't lose it."

"Sure Doc."

"This shouldn't take too long. You will be fine alone?"

Peri nodded. "I'm sure I'll find some way to pass the time."

The Men-With-Guns rounded the corner and headed in her direction. Peri crossed her fingers and hoped that they wouldn't walk towards the rubbish containers she was hiding behind. Luck seemed not to be on Peri's side today as the Men-With-Guns made a beeline for her. She looked around herself in haste. Behind her to the left was a door, running to it would give away her location, but she didn't see any good alternative at this point. So Peri ran.

The door opened with a bit of hard pulling, and once through, she scrambled to push some crates lying next to the inside wall, to against the door. The Men-With-Guns thumped on the door from outside, their enthusiasm for hurting her was beginning to get annoying, and she didn't even know why they were after her.

Obviously just behind the door was not the greatest of hiding spots, especially since the Men-With-Guns had begun to shoot at it instead of thumping it with numerous body parts. Peri glanced around the room. She had stumbled into a garage of sorts, with a small ship docked in the middle. i _I suppose it'll do, /i _ Peri thought as she hid behind the ship.

Peri fell back as a door slid silently open behind her. Next to her head lay packing crates, with huge red words splayed across the sides, Peri was guessing they said 'This Way Up'.

She heard shouting outside, shooting, and boots running on the concrete floor. Then she heard the shooting stop, the shouting become louder, and the sound of an engine starting.

"No, not good," Peri muttered, and barely pulled her legs in in time as the door she had fallen into slid closed. She banged at the door, pushing all available buttons, but to no success, the door stayed shut. Peri sat down on a crate and hoped that the ship wouldn't fly too far away.

"There's someone in the ship," the co-pilot said.

"What!?" the pilot exclaimed.

"Yeah, in the crates."

"You're hearing things."

"I'm not! I'll prove it to you. Set down over there and I'll take a look."

"I am not going to interrupt this run for a stowaway. You know what sort of thing is happening down there."

"Do you i _remember /i _what we are carrying?"

"Oh. Yes. Well, hang on then."

The ship landed in a huge expanse of sand; sand everywhere. Peri felt the thump and sprinted out the door as fast as she could, and hid behind a small sand-dune. The two pilots, a man and a woman came round to the back of the ship, and Peri could just hear their conversation.

"Look what you've done! You've left the door unlocked!"

"How could I help it? There were people i _shooting /i _ at us!"

"Before that, you idiot! You should have locked it when we loaded the cargo!" The pilots stomped inside. "If anything is missing I'm holding you accountable."

"That's not fair!"

Peri left at this point to find civilisation.

2.

"Oi! I was talking to you!" Ace complained.

The owner turned to face her. "You have to wait your turn, little girl."

Ace was outraged. "Little girl!" She changed tack as the owner continued to ignore her. "I was here first!"

The owner finally turned around again, after much evil staring from Ace. "Colonists first, visitors second, natives third. If you don't like it you can get out of my store." Ace didn't, but she needed information. So she waited. And waited.

Peri rushed into the store. "Can someone tell me where I am?" she asked. Everyone in the store ignored her. She went up to the owner. "Could you tell me where I am?" The owner ignored her, as he had done to Ace.

"They think you're a native," someone said from the back.

"And?" Peri asked.

Ace walked up to her, and nodded her head towards the owner. " i _He /i _ doesn't serve natives."

Peri peered down at the way she was dressed. Blue shorts and a pink top that she had tied up in the middle, exposing her midriff. i _What do the natives look like? /i _ Peri wondered.

The little alien ran through the store's round door and up into the group of customers. His pointy ears poked out of his broad-brimmed hat and his little suit was dishevelled.

"They're coming! They're coming!" He looked around frantically like he was looking for somewhere to hide, then ran to the counter, pushing Ace out of the way.

"They're coming!" he squeaked again to the owner.

"I don't know what you are saying little rat," the owner replied, none too kindly. "Go home, or at least somewhere I can't see you."

"They're coming!" the alien squeaked one more time, then ran out of the store.

The men came into the town, their faces painted with war paint, and huge headdresses sat on their heads. They came in screaming and yelling and waving chunks of metal that looked like nothing more than scraps of metal to Peri, but Ace could recognise a weapon when she saw one.

The men came up to the town centre and the little rodent-like aliens around the village scattered.

"What are they doing?" Peri asked the owner.

"They are making a mess of this place, like always," the owner grumbled. "They come in, not caring for any of us or what we think, do their i _stupid /i _ ceremony for i _hunting /i _," he made the whole notion of hunting sound like it was a childish thing to do, "or something like that, then leave our town in a mess."

"And I suppose you were here first, right?" Ace said.

The owner shook his head. "This town is built by colonists, but we have as much right to this place as them. I didn't know these people doing," he waved to outside, " i _that /i _ were here, otherwise I wouldn't have set down my shop here."

"Maybe this town, the land it's built on has some cultural significance to them," Peri suggested.

The owner shrugged. "How would I know. They don't even speak Basic."

"You haven't tried to learn their language?" Peri asked.

"No, no I haven't. Waste of time. Now get out of my store. I'm closing before any of i _them /i _ do any damage."

Ace and Peri wandered out of the store, and stopped just outside the doorway to stare at the ring of men in the middle of the road. They were in a circle, dancing around with their weapons in the air and chanting something. Peri thought something was wrong with whatever the Doctor used as a translator because the men in front of her were chanting,

"We are big and we are strong,

Let the villagers hear our song,

We are off to cut some wheat,

For our little ones to eat."

Ace grinned, then burst out laughing. Peri looked over to her. "What is it?" she asked, but couldn't help a little smile come on her face.

"They're singing about gardening!" Ace chuckled. Peri couldn't help but grin at that, then began to laugh with Ace.

The men heard them, suddenly stopped chanting, and turned to face Ace and Peri.

"Run?" Peri offered to Ace as a suggestion.

"Run!" confirmed Ace.

They sprinted off to their left, unknowingly towards the desert, with the chanting men right on their heels. They reached a corner, then spied the desert in the near distance. Ace pulled on Peri's wrist. "In here." She pulled Peri into on of the nearby buildings, and quickly jammed the door with something from her backpack.

Peri looked around. They had stumbled into a room full of vehicles, most of which were noticeably broken down or completely taken apart.

"What a coincidence, another garage," Peri mumbled to herself.

"What did you say?" Ace asked as she hunted around for a working speeder.

"Nothing important."

Ace looked up. "Don't just stand there, help me look for one that runs."

They found one at the back, a small two seater with no roof, barely big enough to fit both of them in, and they were small girls.

"How are we going to get out?" Peri asked as she looked around for exits. The only one she could see was the one that Ace had jammed, and the men in the war paint were still outside, chanting and hollering.

Ace patted her backpack. "I have something that'll get us outta here."

"What?"

Ace pulled out a couple of deodorant cans. "Nitro 9, my own recipe."

"What does it do?" Peri asked. Ace grinned.

The radio blasted out of the speeder's tiny speakers as they drove to the next city over the desert. "...outcry in the West as one man escapes from prison and insights the natives. Townsmen who have been following the plight of the natives have joined the protests, with President Magon furious at comments made to his person. Local officials report they are having trouble with keeping track of each group's views, as the opinion has changed dramatically in the past few hours..."

The radio abruptly cut out. Peri took advantage of the silence and turned to face Ace. She held out her hand. "I'm Peri."

"What?" Ace asked, concentrating on not hitting bush trees.

"Peri. Perpugilliam Brown. That's my name."

"Oh!" Ace looked over and shook her hand. "Ace." Peri looked at her blankly. "That's my name. Ace."

"Oh!" Peri replied, mirroring Ace. "Nice to meet you."

The city gates were coming up fast and Peri was waiting for Ace to stop the speeder. The guards weren't looking very amused as the speeder sped towards them. Peri decided that she would remind Ace of this fact.

"Ace..."

"I know, I know! It won't stop. The brakes are jammed or something." Peri leaned over and pulled on the hand brake as well.

It didn't look very good to the guards as the speeder crashed through the wooden barrier with Ace and Peri crouched down, trying to pull the brake up.

They succeeded in applying the brake just in time to not crash into a wall, but found themselves surrounded by guards and promptly arrested.

The man in the cell with them was pacing.

"Will you stop that?" Peri complained. "You're making me dizzy."

"I have to get out of here!" the man told Peri. "The man said that if someone didn't do something, that the power complex would explode!" He complimented his narrative by throwing his arms in the air. Then the man started babbling on faster than Peri could understand him, and started pacing again. Ace took no interest in the conversation.

"You'll have to slow down, I don't understand what you are saying," Peri told him. He didn't stop. So Peri slapped him.

Ace had looked up at that moment and wondered about what had transpired.

The man's distress was so much at being slapped that Peri gave up on him and gestured for Ace to try something.

"Stop being such a knob and talk slowly," Ace told the man.

He took in a deep breath. "The man, he said the building was going to explode and there was a bomb and he was going to disarm it but then some guards caught him and he said--" Then the words came too fast for Ace to understand. She contemplated giving him a slap as well, but instead took a deep breath and looked hard at him.

"Tell me what he said, slowly."

"He said, stop it, you have to stop it, and I asked how, and he said 'Use the puzzle' and then he said something really strange."

"What was that?" Ace prompted.

"He replied to another man already in the vehicle that the guards were pushing him into, and he said, 'No this won't destroy the time continuum', then we got separated."

Ace caught her breath. "What did he look like?"

"Um, about my height, curly blonde hair, bright, multicoloured jacket..."

"Not the Professor then. I was so sure," Ace said to no-one in particular.

"You think we should help him?" Ace asked Peri.

"Might as well," Peri replied. "But how are we going to get out?"

Ace grinned. "I have an idea."

The man led them up to the power complex building, and Ace hunted around in her backpack.

"I'm sure I have at least one can left," she told them.

"What is she doing?" the man asked.

"She's going to blow the door in," Peri answered.

The man looked at them blankly. "You don't need to do that, I have a key." He held up a metal plate.

"Who are you?" Peri asked.

"Phillip Reynolds," the man replied, like they should have known all along. "I am the assistant to the head of the Manufacturing Division."

Ace stopped hunting. "Why didn't you say that before?"

"I thought you knew," Phillip answered.

The building was empty of occupants as they wandered in. Phillip led them past the offices and into the central rooms that housed the main computer and the machinery that manufactured the power. Ace and Peri hunted around for some sort of clue as to what they needed to do to stop the building from exploding.

"I'll leave now and let you two handle it," Phillip said, and scurried to the door. Peri and Ace ignored him until he called out. "It's locked!"

"What?!" Ace shouted, and ran to the door. It was stuck fast.

"Can you open it?" Peri asked Phillip.

He shook his head. "The door isn't supposed to lock, just close when it isn't supported."

Peri turned to Ace. "Can you blow it up?"

"Don't!" Phillip cried out. "The walls are shielded, we would just blow ourselves up."

"I've found something!" Ace called down from the upper level of the central room.

"What is it?" Peri called up. Ace dropped down a sack, and Peri caught it, barely. She looked inside. "A puzzle?"

"Yeah, like Phillip said. They have numbers on the back."

Peri tipped the pieces onto the floor. "We do the puzzle, then what?"

"Put the numbers into the computer in the right order."

"Are you sure that will work?" Ace shrugged. Peri looked up again. "Do you want to type or puzzle?"

"Where's the piece that connects to the face? Ace?" Phillip looked at her pleadingly.

"I don't know, I'm doing the foot," Ace replied.

"Where is it, where is it, where is it!" He became frantic. Ace grabbed his upper arm and looked into his eyes.

"Snap out of it. If you can't handle it, I can do it by myself."

Peri looked down from the upper level hesitantly. Ace caught her glance. "Fine," she muttered. "Phillip, can you help us or not?"

Phillip took a deep breath. "I can do it."

Peri sighed with relief and turned back to the computer screen.

"B14 at 3,2," Ace called down from below. Peri typed the number into the computer.

Phillip shouted with joy. "I have it!" There was a pause.

"Well, what it is?" Ace grumbled.

"Oh." Phillip looked down at the puzzle. "F6, at 1,12."

Peri checked her watch. "Hurry up you guys, we don't have much time left." She peered down to the lower level and tilted her head. "Why that arrogant little... Ace, I know who that is."

"Do you want to swap places?" Ace asked. Phillip looked up at Ace and shook his head. "Oh, stop being a baby," Ace said. "I'm coming up," she called up to Peri. She shimmied up her metal ladder then Peri climbed down.

If the Doctor had the gall to put himself on the puzzle that could save them, at least he was close by, and Peri wasn't stuck on this planet forever.

Ace typed in the last co-ordinate and leaned back on the chair. The timer clicked over another number.

"It didn't stop!" Ace yelled.

"What?" Peri asked.

"The countdown number! It's still going!"

"Did you check that you put in all the numbers?" Phillip asked.

"Yes!" both girls shouted at him in unison.

"We should get out of here," Peri said.

"Yeah," Ace replied, already halfway down the ladder.

"But the door is locked!" Phillip whined.

"Ace, use your..."

The door clicked open. "Peri! So good to see you! Peri's friend, how do you do." The Doctor shook Ace's hand as he stepped into the room. Peri quickly caught the door before it could close. The Doctor looked around the room. His eyes settled on the girls' unwilling helper. "Phillip. What are you doing here?"

"Does that matter now?" Peri asked. She gestured towards the timer still slowly ticking down.

"Yes, good point Peri. Everyone out!"

3.

The first bang was muffled, as the explosion was contained in the central room, the shielded doors and walls built to prevent this kind of thing. The second bomb went off in one of the outer offices, setting desks, cabinets and doors alight. The third bomb went off in the central room, more powerful than the first, and Peri and Ace felt the shock wave that made the ground shudder and the air feel like it moved two feet to the left.

They sheltered behind a speeder with the Doctor and pulled Phillip behind it with them, then peeked over the roof to see the fireworks.

The fire had spread through most of the offices by now, so the last two bombs went off simultaneously, one programmed and one set off by the heat.

The sound was deafening, as the bombs set off fuel lines in both spots. Huge flames flew into the sky, raining down fiery desks and chairs from the, now gaping, hole in the roof. The windows shattered but the walls held together.

Ace looked at Peri and grinned. "Wicked!" She glanced at the Doctor and tried to suppress the smile on her face. "Sorry. Building blows up, bad."

The Doctor shook his head. "No, good."

"But Phillip said you needed to disarm the bombs!" Peri argued.

"Am I not allowed to change my mind?" the Doctor said.

"Well, no, but..."

"Good. Shall we go?"

They got up and passed the vehicles coming to smother the fire before it spread. The Doctor leaned down and whispered in Ace's ear. "The Doctor is at the city gates." Ace looked at him, puzzled, but left believing that the man knew what he was talking about.

"Let's go," the Doctor told Peri.

"Sure thing, Doc."

The Doctor clenched his teeth together. "Doctor, thankyou. TARDIS is over that way."

"Don't you want to know how I found you?" the Doctor asked, itching to boast.

"Not i _right /i _ at this moment, no," Peri countered. She reached into her pocket and pulled out the object that the Doctor had given to her, along with a handful of sand. "Oh! I have sand in my pants!" she grumbled.

The Doctor pocketed the object, minus the sand. "Are you sure you don't want to know?"

"No!" Peri replied as she wandered through the interior console room door in search of a shower.

The Doctor was crestfallen. "I was really clever too."


End file.
